No-ba

Jiujiang (九江- Nine Rivers), Jiangxi Province, China - On my way to Lushan Mountain (where many famous Chinese poets have gone for inspiration...also where Chiang Kai-shek lived during Kuomingtang rule and, later, where Mao Tse-tung and the Communist Party met during the Cultural Revolution) I stumbled upon a boba stand.


Bei Fu

And by "stumbled," I mean I asked every store owner in sight, and proceeded to drag my poor travelmates around a freezing drizzly night until success was found.

The result: very disappointing. Have you ever heard of a boba place RUNNING OUT OF BOBA? I know, that was my reaction too.

Cat: Yi bei zhen zhou nai cha (One cup of milk tea with tapioca, please).
Boba man: Zhen zhou mai guang le (We ran out of tapioca).
Cat: (gasp) Oh my god!!!
Cat's friends: Hahahahaha!

Not cool. So I begrudgingly settled for regular milk tea with no tapioca. It was mediocre. I suppose that if nothing else, it was nice having hot tea on a cold night. At least it helped warm my cold, cold heart, in which there is a void left by the lack of boba in Jiujiang.


Milk tea, sans boba. Hrmph.


Note: the title of this blog entry must be attributed to my friend Nick who, when another friend refused a sip of my boba, said, "No-ba?" Credit where credit is due, indeed.